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A bus from NYC to Washington D.C. For only ten dollars? Yes.

The bus did end up being two hours late, but no matter, we spent a lovely evening in D.C. We scored one of the best airbnb rooms we’ve ever had. After dropping off our stuff we raced out to the White House while we still had daylight. The sunset was beautiful and the Washington Monument was taller than I expected. We grabbed some Mexican food, and then discovered there was a Johnny Rockets store in D.C. which was closing in ten minutes! We ran ten blocks as fast as we could and made it just in time for a peanut butter thickshake. We used to have a Johnny Rockets in Cairns when we were children, but it closed down. It was great to find it again. After dark we went to the incredibly impressive Lincoln Memorial. From the steps, the nighttime view over the water to the Washington Monument and the capital is just stunning, but unfortunately not able to be captured via cameraphone. We also visited the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial which is beautiful. D.C. is so spacious and clean after NYC.

The next morning we picked up a rental car and began our road trip properly, driving past the Pentagon to get onto Route 66. Our trip takes us through a total of nine states (maybe we’ll squeeze in a tenth if we get time). We took a little detour through Virginia (with the the state slogan “Virginia is for lovers”) to get to Skyline Drive, one of the top scenic drives in the states, through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The drive was very beautiful. Wildflowers and butterflies everywhere. We saw a deer, and I took a little walk through the bush and spotted Bigfoot! He was pretty cool. Hairy, but cool. I asked for a photo, but he politely declined. Said he had a reputation to maintain. He’s not even on Facebook. I respect that. That night we stayed in a little town called Roanoke.

The next morning we woke up much later than we intended and began our drive around 11. The previous day I had been quite tense the whole time I was driving. I had to get used to being on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, and regulating my speed by mph. All very exhausting after a while. I made up a little song that goes like this: “stay on the right, stay on the right, stay on the right right right right right.” Quite a catchy little ditty. Today, however, was much more relaxing, as the new style of driving was becoming more familiar. The interstates here are quite pretty, winding through endless forested mountains. We crossed into North Carolina, South Carolina, and then Georgia. North Carolina is proud of being the home of the Wright brothers and the very first human flight. Georgia is proud of its peaches. The further south we drove, the less people seemed to care about the speed limit signs. I like to set my cruise control to match the speed limit. In Georgia, that made me by far the slowest vehicle in the state, with everyone whizzing past me. We got to my Uncle Donald’s house quite late that night, around 10:30.